One Step to Change Your Ministry

Photo Credit: Verino77 via Compfight cc

2015 is right around the corner, and it's time to set some goals for the new year!  It's a fresh start. A blank slate.

We say, "This is the year things are going to be different.  This is the year we're going to get our act together.  It's time to take our ministry to the next level!"

But then we remember we said that last year.  And the year before.  And probably the year before that.  We look around at our ministries and realize we have a lot of work ahead of us.

Remember that conference you went to and how pumped up you were when you came home? Remember those big ideas you got when you visited that other church or read that inspirational blog post? Do you remember all the good intentions you had at the beginning of 2014?

But now here you are at the end of the year, and all of those unrealized intentions can leave you feeling overwhelmed and depressed.  There's just so much work to be done.  So much we want to change.  How can we get it all done?


The answer is that we can't.  Not all of it.  Probably not even most of it.  We can't change everything next year.   But do you know what we can do?  We can change ONE thing.  And that may be all we need to change.

Why?  Because one degree of change over a long period of time can make a huge difference.

Take airplanes, for instance.

Building Champions coach, Tim Enochs, writes, "for every sin­gle degree you fly off course, you will miss your tar­get land­ing spot by 92 feet for every mile you fly. That amounts to about one mile off tar­get for every sixty miles flown.  If you decided to start at the equa­tor and fly around the earth, one degree off would land you almost 500 miles off target.  So, the longer you travel off course, the fur­ther you will be away from the intended target."

Okay, so let's flip that to the positive side.  If you take one step in 2015, if you make one degree of healthy change in your ministry, by the end of the year, you will be in a much better place than you are now.

A little change over time makes a big difference.

So what's your one step?  What's one positive change you make in the new year that will move your ministry in the right direction?   Is it spending intentional time discipling a key leader?  Is it cleaning the clutter out of your environments to make a better impression on parents?  Is it reviewing your safety and security processes with your team?

Whatever it is, just do it.  Just take a step.  Make one degree of change.  Do one thing different and watch what God will do!

P.S.  If you're looking for potential areas that need to change, I have some suggestions.  Over the next week I'll be sharing my Kidmin Ten, ten strategic areas I look at when I'm consulting with other churches and trying to help Children's Ministry leaders take their next step.